The degree Joe Nathan has from Stony Brook is in business management. Crisis management may have come in handier.

Nathan is the Twins’ All-Star closer, so right away he’s in a precarious position. The Yankees, you see, have this thing they do in October – it’s called turning other teams’ star closers into Mel Rojas.

Now it’s Nathan’s turn, and the hard-thrower knows he’s entering into an abnormal atmosphere in The Bronx.

“Anytime you’re playing here, it always seems to be a playoff atmosphere, even during the regular season,” said the 29-year-old right-hander, who grew up in Pine Bush in upstate Orange County. “The fans are pretty good fans here. They always seem to draw well, and the atmosphere is always pretty electric.”

Actually, if there’s one thing Nathan has shown, it’s an ability to adjust pretty quickly. Last year he was the Giants’ set-up man, posting a solid 12-4 record and a 2.96 ERA. But in the offseason, the Twins’ relief corps departed – so long to closer Eddie Guardado and set-up ace LaTroy Hawkins – and GM Terry Ryan shipped catcher AJ Pierzynski to San Fran for Nathan.

Then Ryan turned the ninth inning over to Nathan and watched him flourish, converting 44 of 47 save opportunities (including a club-record 27 straight) and a sparkling 1.62 ERA.

He said the key was treating the ninth inning as if it were the seventh or eighth.

“I really didn’t want to try to change anything,” said Nathan, who actually blew a save against the Yankees earlier this year. “You don’t want to think that just because you’re pitching in a new inning, you do anything different.

“It’s just a different spot in the game. As a pen down there, we’re just trying to pass the ball along and get our three [outs] or whatever they ask of us that day.”